Big 12 Football- Week 5 Predictions

Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-1/0-1) @ Kansas Jayhawks (2-2/0-1)

Oklahoma St. had a promising start to the season after beating the then ranked Boise St. Broncos, but got throbbed last week in their Big 12 opener against Texas Tech. After the 41-17 loss to Tech, the Cowboys will get what seems like a nice week off when they play Kansas this week. Kansas has been the laughing stock of college football for a very long time, but they are somehow 2-2 this year. While Kansas already has more wins than they did last year, they will probably not win another game this season. They recently lost to the Baylor Bears, so they have a tough rest of their schedule. Taylor Cornelius (1224 yards, 8 TDs) and Justice Hill (388 yards, 5 TDs) will bounce back and beat Kansas pretty badly this week.

Prediction- Oklahoma State-38 Kansas- 14

Texas Tech, and Alan Bowman, have surprised everybody this year. After losing their opener to Mississippi, the Red Raiders have gone 3-0, beating Lamar, Houston, and Oklahoma St. Alan Bowman has been absolutely dominant throwing for 1557 yards and 10 TDs. Texas Tech’s defense held the high powered Oklahoma St. offense scoreless in the 2nd half, but I see them slowing Will Grier (1117 yards, 14 TDs) down. West Virginia has gone undefeated so far, but they really have not had any big competition. Heisman hopeful, Grier will have his first test against the Red Raiders defense but I think Grier and the Mountaineers fight it out in a very high scoring game.

Prediction- West Virginia-45 Texas Tech-37

#18 Texas Longhorns (3-1/1-0) @ Kansas State Wildcats (2-2/0-1)

Everyone brace yourselves. Get ready. It sounds crazy, but I think Texas might be back. The Longhorns started out losing to Maryland (again), and barely beating Tulsa. Then they beat #22 ranked USC, and #17 TCU two weeks in a row. Sam Ehlinger (978 yards, 8 TDs) looks like he has gotten a lot better and has started off his sophomore season much better than is freshman season. Kansas State does not really have much going for them going into this game. They started by losing a bad game to South Dakota, and then the next week, they lost to #23 Mississippi State. They blew out UTSA and then got whooped by WVU. This team really does not have much of a chance against the fast, hard-hitting Texas defense, but Bill Snyder is the better, smarter coach and I think because of that, it will be closer than people think.

Prediction- Texas- 24 Kansas St.- 13

Baylor Bears (3-1/1-0) @ #6 Oklahoma Sooners (4-0/1-0)

This one is easy. Baylor, although looks better than last year, is still not a great football team. The after math of “Briles-Gate” has really lasted. Baylor lost years of great recruits and has just not gotten good enough players to match up with the Sooners. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray (1228 yards, 11 TDs) is another Big 12 Heisman candidate. The dude can play. But Oklahoma should be slightly concerned about almost losing to Army last week. Iowa State and Army both had similar game plans and both worked well. The rest of the country has an idea how to beat them, but it will not happen this week.

Prediction-Oklahoma- 48 Baylor- 20

Iowa State Cyclones (1-2/0-1) @ TCU Horned Frogs (2-2/0-1)

Iowa State has not had a good start to their season, with their lone win coming off of Akron in Week 4. The Cyclones are the Big 12’s big upset team. They knocked off Oklahoma and TCU last year, who were both ranked very high at the time. I think the Horned Frogs will get revenge. TCU has gotten knocked around the last two weeks by two good teams so they are no doubt hungry for a win. TCU’s defense will bounce back and hold the Cyclones to a minimum. TCU needs a game like this to get back on track. Shawn Robinson (833 yards, 6 TDs) and the Frogs will get a win back home in Fort Worth.